Letters & Polemics (CSEL) 5 part 50/118

God, therefore, we love for His own sake, and ourselves and our neighbours for His sake. Nor, when we so live, let us yet suppose ourselves established in the blessed life itself, as though there were nothing further for which we should pray. For how do we already live blessedly, when that is still lacking for the sake of which alone we live well? Why, then, are we scattered abroad through many things and inquire what we should pray for, fearing lest perchance we pray as we ought not, and do not rather say with the psalm: 'One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may contemplate the delight of the Lord and visit His holy temple'? For there all the days are not made by coming and passing away, nor is the beginning of one the end of another;

all are together without end, where not even that life itself, whose days they are, has any end. For the attaining of this blessed life, the very True Life itself taught us to pray, not in much speaking, as though we were heard for being the more talkative, when we entreat Him who knows—as the Lord Himself says—what is needful for us before we ask Him. Whence it may seem wonderful that, although He forbade much speaking, He nonetheless exhorted us so to pray—He who knows what is needful for us before we ask Him—as to say:

One ought always to pray and not to faint—by the example set of a certain widow's resolve, who, desiring to be avenged of her adversary, by often importuning bent an unjust judge to give her hearing, moved not by justice or mercy but overcome by weariness; that from this we might be admonished how much more surely the merciful and just Lord God hears us who pray without ceasing, when she could not be scorned even by an unjust and impious judge through her assiduous importuning; and how willingly and appeasedly He fulfils the good desires of those by whom He knows that the sins of others are forgiven, if she, who wished to be avenged, arrived where she desired.

He too, to whom a friend had come from a journey and who had not what he might set before him, desiring to have three loaves lent to him by a friend—by which loaves perhaps that Trinity of one substance is figured—when the man was already sleeping with his servants, this petitioner, most insistent and most troublesome, roused him to give him as many as he wished, more by avoiding weariness than by considering benevolence; that from this we might understand that, if he is compelled to give who, while he sleeps, is roused unwilling by one who asks, how much more kindly will He give who neither knows how to sleep, and who rouses us who sleep, that we may ask. Hence too is that saying: 'Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.'

'Or what man is there of you, of whom his son shall ask bread—will he reach him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he reach him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him?'

Therefore, according to those three things which the Apostle commends, faith is signified in the fish—either because of the water of baptism, or because it remains whole amid the waves of this present age—and to this faith the serpent is opposed, who by his venomous deceit persuaded man not to believe God. Hope is signified in the egg, because the chick's life does not yet exist but is to come, and is not yet seen but is still hoped for—'for hope that is seen is not hope'—and to this hope the scorpion is opposed, since he who hopes for eternal life

forgets the things that are behind and stretches forward to those that are before, to whom it is harmful to look back; and the scorpion is to be guarded against on that side where it bears its venomed and stinging tail behind. Charity is signified in the bread, for 'the greatest of these is charity,' and among foods the usefulness of bread surpasses all the rest; and to charity the stone is opposed, since hard hearts reject charity. But whether these things signify something else more fitting, nevertheless He who knows how to give good gifts to His sons compels us to ask and to seek and to knock.

Why He does this—He who knows what we need before we ask Him—might trouble the mind, unless we understand that our Lord and God does not wish our will to be made known to Him (which He cannot be ignorant of), but rather that our desire be exercised in prayers, whereby we may become able to receive what He is preparing to give. For that gift is exceedingly great, but we are small and narrow to receive it. Therefore it is said to us: 'Be enlarged; be not yoked together with unbelievers.'

For that which is exceedingly great—'which eye has not seen,' because it is no color, 'nor ear has heard,' because it is no sound, 'nor has it entered into the heart of man,' because the heart of man must ascend thither—we shall receive the more capaciously, the more faithfully we believe it, the more firmly we hope for it, and the more ardently we desire it. In this very faith and hope and charity, then, with continual desire we always pray. But at set intervals of hours and times we also entreat God in words, so that by those signs of things we may admonish our very selves, may make known to ourselves how far we have advanced in this desire, and may more keenly rouse ourselves to increase it. For a worthier effect follows where a more fervent affection goes before. And by this too is that which the Apostle says:

'Pray without ceasing'—what else is it than 'without ceasing desire the blessed life,' which is none other than eternal, from Him who alone can give it? Therefore let us always desire this from the Lord our God, and let us always pray. But we recall our mind from other cares and business, by which this very desire in some manner grows lukewarm, back to the business of praying at set hours, admonishing ourselves by the words of prayer to fix our attention on that which we desire, lest what had begun to grow lukewarm should altogether grow cold and be wholly extinguished, unless it be more frequently rekindled. Hence also that which the same Apostle says:

'Let your requests be made known to God'—this is not to be taken as though they were made known to God, who assuredly knew them even before they existed, but that they may be made known to ourselves before God through patient endurance, not before men through boasting; or perhaps also that they may be made known to the angels who are before God, so that in some manner they may offer them to God and take counsel concerning them, and whatever by His command they learn ought to be fulfilled—as there they learn what is fitting—this they may bring to us either openly or hiddenly. For the angel said to the man: 'And now, when you and Sarah prayed, I offered the memorial of your prayer in the sight of the brightness of God.'

Since these things are so, even to pray at length, when there is leisure—that is, when the duties of other good and necessary actions are not hindered (although in these too, as I said, one must always pray with that desire)—is neither improper nor useless. For it is not, as some think, to pray 'with much speaking' if one prays for a longer time. Much speech is one thing, prolonged affection another. For of the Lord Himself it is written that He spent the night in prayer, and that He prayed at greater length. And what else was He doing there than offering us an example—being in time a timely intercessor, and with the Father the eternal hearer of prayers?

The brethren in Egypt are said to have prayers that are indeed frequent, yet very brief and in a manner hurled forth swiftly, lest that vigilant and erect attention, which is most necessary for one who prays, should through more prolonged delays vanish and grow dull. And by this they too sufficiently show that this attention, just as it must not be blunted if it cannot endure, so, if it does endure, must not be quickly broken off. For let much speaking be far from prayer, but let much beseeching not be lacking, if fervent attention perseveres. For to speak much in praying is to do a necessary thing with superfluous words; but to beseech much is to knock upon Him whom we beseech with a prolonged and pious rousing of the heart.

For this business is for the most part carried on more by groanings than by speech, more by weeping than by discourse. But He sets our tears in His sight, and our groaning is not hidden from Him who made all things by the Word and does not require human words. Words, then, are necessary for us, by which we may be reminded and may consider what we ask, not by which we may believe the Lord is to be either instructed or bent. So when we say, 'Hallowed be Thy name,' we admonish ourselves to desire that His name, which is always holy, may also be held holy among men—that is, may not be despised; which profits not God but men. And in that which we say:

'Thy kingdom come'—which, whether we will or not, shall assuredly come—we rouse our desire toward that kingdom, that it may come to us and that we may deserve to reign in it. When we say, 'Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth,' we beg from Him that very obedience for ourselves, that His will may be done in us just as it is done in the heavenly beings by His angels. When we say, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' by that word 'this day' is signified 'at this present time,' wherein we ask either for that sufficiency, denoting by the part which excels—that is, by the name of bread—the whole; or for the sacrament of the faithful, which is necessary at this time, yet not for attaining this temporal but that eternal felicity.

When we say, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,' we admonish ourselves both what we ask and what we do, that we may deserve to receive. When we say, 'Lead us not into temptation,' we admonish ourselves to ask this: that, forsaken of His help, we may neither consent to any temptation, being deceived, nor yield to it, being afflicted. When we say, 'Deliver us from evil,' we admonish ourselves to consider that we are not yet in that good where we shall suffer no evil. And this last petition, which is placed in the Lord's Prayer, extends so widely that a Christian man, set in whatever tribulation, in this may pour forth his groans, in this shed his tears, from this begin, in this linger, at this end his prayer.

For by these words the very realities were to be commended to our memory. For whatever other words we may say—which the affection of the one praying either forms beforehand that it may be made clear, or attends to afterward that it may grow—we say nothing else than what is set down in this Lord's Prayer, if we pray rightly and fittingly. But whoever says that which cannot pertain to this Gospel prayer, even if he does not pray unlawfully, prays carnally—and I do not know how that should not be called unlawful, since it befits those reborn of the Spirit to pray only spiritually. For he who says, for example, 'Be glorified among all nations, as Thou hast been glorified in us,' and, 'Let Thy prophets be found faithful,' what else does he say than:

'Hallowed be Thy name'? He who says, 'O God of hosts, convert us, and show Thy face, and we shall be saved,' what else does he say than: 'Thy kingdom come'? He who says, 'Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me,' what else does he say than: 'Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth'? He who says, 'Give me neither poverty nor riches,' what else does he say than: 'Give us this day our daily bread'? He who says, 'Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness,' or, 'O Lord, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have rendered evil to those who repaid me,' what else does he say than: 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors'? He who says:

'Take from me the concupiscences of the belly, and let not the desire of carnal union seize me,' what else does he say than: 'Lead us not into temptation'? He who says, 'Rescue me from my enemies, O God, and deliver me from those who rise up against me,' what else does he say than: 'Deliver us from evil'? And if you run through all the words of the holy prayers, you will find, as I judge, nothing that this Lord's Prayer does not contain and comprehend. Hence it is free to say the same things in prayer with different and yet different words, but it ought not to be free to say other things.

These things are to be prayed for, both for ourselves and for our own and for strangers and even for our enemies, without any wave of doubting—although, according as the nearness or remoteness of relationships stands, in the heart of the one praying the affection may arise or exalt itself now for this person, now for that. But he who says in prayer, for example, 'Lord, multiply my riches,' or, 'Give me as much as Thou hast given to this man or that,' or, 'Increase my honors, make me powerful and illustrious in this world,' or anything of that kind, and says these things having a concupiscence for them, not attending to this—that from them men may be benefited according to God—I think he does not find in the Lord's Prayer wherein he can fit such wishes.

Wherefore let a man at least be ashamed to ask for what he is not ashamed to desire; or if he is ashamed even of this, yet desire prevails, how much better is it to ask this: that He may deliver us even from this evil of desire, to whom we say, 'Deliver us from evil'! You have, as far as I judge, not only what kind of person you should be in praying, but also what you should pray for—not by my teaching, but by His who deigned to teach us all. The blessed life is to be sought; this is to be asked of the Lord our God. What it is to be blessed, many have disputed in many ways; but why do we go to many men and to many things? Briefly and truly it is said in the Scripture of God: 'Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord Himself.'

That we may be in that very people, and may be able to attain to contemplating Him and to living with Him without end, 'the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned.' Among these same three, in place of a good conscience, hope is set. Faith, then, and hope and charity lead to God the one who prays—that is, the one who believes, hopes, desires, and considers what he asks of the Lord in the Lord's Prayer. Fastings and the restraint of carnal concupiscence from other pleasures without neglect of health, and above all almsgiving, greatly aid prayer, so that we may be able to say: 'In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands in the night before Him, and I was not deceived.'

For how is God, who is incorporeal and impalpable, sought out by hands, unless He is sought out by works? Perhaps there is still something you would ask: why the Apostle said, 'For what we should pray for as we ought, we know not.' For it is by no means to be believed that either he himself, or those to whom he said these things, was ignorant of the Lord's Prayer.

Why then do we think he said this—which he could say neither rashly nor falsely—except because temporal troubles and tribulations for the most part profit either to heal the swelling of pride, or to prove and exercise patience (for which, once proved and exercised, a brighter and more abundant reward is reserved), or for the scourging and abolishing of whatever sins; yet we, not knowing what these things profit, wish to be delivered from all tribulation. From this ignorance the Apostle does not show himself to be exempt, unless perchance he knew what he should pray for as he ought when, lest he be exalted by the greatness of the revelations, there was given him a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet him.

On account of which he thrice asked the Lord to take it from him—assuredly not knowing what he should pray for as he ought. Then he heard God's answer, why that which so great a man was praying for should not be done, and why it was not expedient that it be done: 'My grace is sufficient for you; for strength is made perfect in weakness.' In these tribulations, then, which can both profit and harm, we know not what we should pray for as we ought; and yet, because they are hard, because troublesome, because contrary to the feeling of our weakness, by a universal human will we pray that these be taken from us. But we owe this devotion to the Lord our God: that if He does not take them away, we should not therefore think ourselves neglected by Him, but rather, through pious patience with evils, hope for greater goods.

For thus strength is made perfect in weakness. For to some impatient ones the Lord God granted, in anger, what they asked—as, on the contrary, in mercy He denied it to the Apostle. For we read what and how the Israelites asked and received; but when their concupiscence was satisfied, their impatience was gravely chastised. He gave also a king to those who asked, according to their heart, as it is written, not according to His own heart. He granted also what the devil demanded, that His servant might be tempted to be proved. He heard even the unclean spirits when they begged that a legion of demons be sent into the many swine.

These things are written lest anyone should esteem himself of great account if he has been heard when he impatiently asks something which it would profit him more not to obtain; or lest he cast himself down and despair of the divine compassion toward him if he is not heard when perchance he asks something which, by receiving, he would be more grievously afflicted, or, corrupted by prosperity, would be utterly overthrown. In such things, then, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. Hence, if anything happens contrary to what we pray for, bearing it patiently and giving thanks in all things, we ought by no means to doubt that this rather ought to have been done, which God's will and not our will held. For the Mediator too gave us an example of this kind, who, when He had said:

'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' transforming in Himself the human will out of the assumption of human nature, He immediately subjoined: 'Yet not what I will, but what Thou willest, Father.' Whence deservedly 'through the obedience of one many are made righteous.' But whoever asks that one thing of the Lord and seeks after this, asks with certainty and security, and does not fear lest perchance it harm him when he has received that without which whatever else he receives, as he ought, profits nothing. For that itself is the one true and only blessed life: that we may contemplate the Lord's delightfulness forever, immortal and incorruptible in body and spirit. For the sake of this one thing the rest are sought, and are not unbecomingly asked for.

Whoever has that will have all things that he wills, nor will he be able to will anything there that would not be fitting to have. For there indeed is the fountain of life, which we ought now to thirst for in prayer, so long as we live in hope and do not yet see what we hope for—under the protection of His wings, before whom is all our desire, that we may be inebriated by the abundance of His house, and be given to drink of the torrent of His pleasure; for with Him is the fountain of life, and in His light we shall see light—when our desire shall be satisfied with good things, and there will be nothing further that we should seek by groaning, but which we should hold by rejoicing.

Yet nevertheless, since that itself is the peace which surpasses all understanding, even in asking for it in prayer, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. For what we cannot conceive as it is, we assuredly do not know; but whatever presents itself to our thought, we cast aside, reject, disapprove—we know that this is not what we seek, although we do not yet know of what sort that is. There is therefore in us a certain, so to speak, learned ignorance, but learned by the Spirit of God, who helps our weakness. For when the Apostle had said, 'But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience,' there he subjoined: 'Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness; for what we should pray for as we ought, we know not;'

'but the Spirit Himself intercedes with unutterable groanings; and He who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.' This is not to be so understood as though we should suppose that the Holy Spirit of God—who in the Trinity is the unchangeable God, and with the Father and the Son is one God—intercedes for the saints as one who is not what God is; for it is said, 'He intercedes for the saints,' because He makes the saints intercede, just as it is said, 'The Lord your God tempts you, that He may know whether you love Him'—that is, that He may make you know.

He therefore makes the saints intercede with unutterable groanings, inspiring in them the desire even of a thing still unknown and so great, which we await through patience. For how can it be told, when that is desired which is unknown? For assuredly, if it were in every way unknown, it would not be desired; and again, if it were seen, it would not be desired nor sought with groanings. Considering all these things, and whatever else concerning this matter the Lord may suggest to you—which either did not occur to me or would have been long for me to say—strive in prayer to conquer this world; pray in hope, pray faithfully and lovingly, pray earnestly and patiently, pray as a widow of Christ.

For although praying pertains to all His members—that is, to all who believe in Him and are joined to His body, as He taught—yet especially a more diligent care of prayers is found enjoined in His Scripture upon widows. For there were two Annas honorably named: one married, who bore the holy Samuel; the other a widow, who recognized the Holy of Holies while He was yet an infant. The married woman also prayed in grief of soul and affliction of heart, because she had no children; then she obtained that very Samuel and, having received him, gave him back to God, because when she asked she had vowed. But how her prayer pertains to that Lord's Prayer is not easily found, except in this—that in what is set down there:

'Deliver us from evil'—it seems no small evil both to be married and to lack the fruit of marriage, since only the purpose of procreating children excuses marriage. But concerning that widow Anna, see what is written—that 'she did not depart from the temple, serving with fastings and supplications night and day.' Nor is it from any other source that the Apostle, which I also mentioned above, says: 'She who is truly a widow and desolate has hoped in the Lord and continues in prayers night and day.' And the Lord, when He exhorted us that we should always pray and not faint, mentioned a widow, who, though by assiduously appealing turned an unjust and impious judge and a despiser of God and men to hearing her cause.

Therefore how much widows above others ought to give themselves to prayers may be sufficiently understood from this: that from among widows an example of exhortation is set before all for undertaking the zeal of praying. But what in this kind of work has been chosen in widows, except destitution and desolation? Wherefore if every soul understands itself to be destitute and desolate in this world, so long as it journeys away from the Lord, assuredly it commends a certain widowhood of its own to God its defender by assiduous and most earnest prayer. Pray therefore as a widow of Christ, not yet having the sight of Him whose aid you beseech; and though you be very rich, pray as one poor; for you do not yet have the true riches of the age to come, where you will fear no losses;

Though you have sons and grandsons and a numerous household—which was also said above—pray as one desolate; for all temporal things are uncertain, even those destined to remain, for our consolation, until the very end of this life. But if you seek and are minded upon the things that are above, if you desire eternal and certain things, which so long as you do not yet have them, even with all your household safe and obedient, you ought to reckon yourself as it were desolate—and if you do so, then assuredly by your example also your most devout daughter-in-law and the other holy widows and virgins placed under your care will be more secure. For the more piously you order your household, the more earnestly you ought to persist in prayers, not occupied with the affairs of present things except as the cause of piety demands.

By all means remember to pray also for us, not negligently. For we do not wish you to render to us the honor, which we bear as a perilous burden, in such a way that you withdraw the help which we know to be necessary. By the family of Christ prayer was made for Peter, prayer was made for Paul; and we rejoice that you are in His family, and incomparably more than Peter and Paul do we need the aids of fraternal prayers. Pray in emulation with harmonious and holy contention; for you contend not against one another, but against the devil, the enemy of all the saints. In fastings and vigils and every chastisement of the body, by which prayer is most greatly aided, let each of you do what she can;

what one is less able to do, let her do what she is able, if she loves in the other that which she herself does not do because she cannot. Accordingly, let her who is less strong not hinder the one who is stronger, and let her who is stronger not press the one who is weaker. For you owe your conscience to God; but owe nothing to any one of you, save to love one another. May the Lord hear you, who is powerful to do above what we ask and understand. CXXXI. TO THE LADY DISTINGUISHED AND DESERVEDLY ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST EXCELLENT DAUGHTER PROBA, AUGUSTINE.

It is indeed as you say: that the soul, set in a corruptible body, is bound fast by a certain earthly contagion, and, depressed by such a burden, is in a manner bent down, so that it more easily desires and thinks upon the many things below than the one thing above. For holy Scripture too says thus: 'For the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation presses down the mind that thinks upon many things.' But for this cause our Savior came, who by the word of salvation raised up that woman in the Gospel who was bent for eighteen years—who perhaps signified this—so that the Christian soul may not in vain hear 'Lift up your heart,' nor in vain answer that it holds it toward the Lord. Regarding which, you rightly do to reckon the evils of this world tolerable in hope of the future.

For thus by a certain good use they are turned into good, while they do not increase our concupiscence but exercise our patience. Concerning which matter the Apostle says: 'We know that to those who love God all things work together for good.' 'All things,' he says—therefore not only those which are sought as pleasant, but also those which are shunned as troublesome, when we so take the one that we be not captured, and so bear the other that we be not broken, and according to the divine precepts in all things give thanks to Him of whom we say: 'I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be ever in my mouth,' and: 'It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy justifications.'